Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#475
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Steve Blum works on versatility rather than volume, and the catalogue keeps proving that the quieter choice was the correct one.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Steve Blum appears in 35 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Steve. Transformers One is the clearest case: a film rated 7.8 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, screen presence. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for action, science fiction, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with Jon Favreau, Josh Cooley, Ken Cunningham and others, Steve Blum helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Transformers One (2024) as Announcer Bot / Guard 1 (voice) · Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020) as Sub-Zero (voice) · Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon (2016) as Inferno (voice)
Career snapshot
Ranked #475 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
35
2002–2026
Career length
24 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
7.8
Transformers One
Average Nutevio score
7.0
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.1
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge
Most frequent director
Jay Oliva
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Jay Oliva
Most common genre
Animation
31 titles
Average runtime
1h 18m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.1
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.7
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
2000s
7.1 average MV
The 2000s are where the work and the material meet. Afro Samurai: Resurrection, Ultimate Avengers: The Movie, Lilo & Stitch — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
2000s
7.1
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
2010s
7.1
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
2000s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Afro Samurai: Resurrection, Ultimate Avengers: The Movie, Lilo & Stitch.
Most productive era
2010s
20 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | 6.91 film | 6.92 films | — |
| Action | 6.92 films | 7.114 films | 6.88 films |
| Thriller | — | 7.31 film | — |
| Comedy | 7.61 film | 6.97 films | 6.34 films |
| Crime | — | 7.22 films | 5.81 film |
| Horror | — | 7.01 film | 6.01 film |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
2002Lilo & Stitch
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Additional Voices (voice).
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2020Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge
7.8 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
The current state of the argument, as Zeb Orrelios (voice).
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
35 of 35 films
as Sub-Zero (voice)
Directed by Ethan Spaulding
as Lex Luthor (voice)
Directed by Jay Oliva
as Announcer Bot / Guard 1 (voice)
Directed by Josh Cooley
as Zeb Orrelios (voice)
Directed by Jon Favreau
as Count Vertigo (voice)
Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Sub-Zero (voice)
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge (2020)
Performance score7.8
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Sub-Zero (voice) gives Steve Blum a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Lex Luthor (voice)
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013)
Performance score7.7
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Lex Luthor (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Announcer Bot / Guard 1 (voice)
Transformers One (2024)
Performance score7.6
Transformers One asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Announcer Bot / Guard 1 (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Zeb Orrelios (voice)
The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026)
Performance score7.5
The Mandalorian and Grogu asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Zeb Orrelios (voice) is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Sub-Zero (voice)
Start here. Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge is the clearest statement of what Steve Blum does — accessible, 80 minutes, and rated 7.8 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Steve at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
DC Showcase: Green Arrow (2010)
Keeps the action register of Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge but asks for a colder reading of it.
Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013)
Keeps the action register of DC Showcase: Green Arrow but asks for a colder reading of it.
Transformers One (2024)
Keeps the science fiction register of Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox but asks for a colder reading of it.
The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026)
Keeps the science fiction register of Transformers One but asks for a colder reading of it.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Jay Oliva
Director
3 films together
Notably Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox
Lauren Montgomery
Director
2 films together
Notably Batman: Year One
Ethan Spaulding
Director
2 films together
Notably Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge
Matt Peters
Director
2 films together
Notably LEGO DC Batman: Family Matters
Ken Cunningham
Director
2 films together
Notably LEGO Marvel Avengers: Mission Demolition
Dean DeBlois
Director
1 film together
Notably Lilo & Stitch
Steven E. Gordon
Director
1 film together
Notably Ultimate Avengers: The Movie
Fuminori Kizaki
Director
1 film together
Notably Afro Samurai: Resurrection
Joaquim Dos Santos
Director
1 film together
Notably DC Showcase: Green Arrow
Victor Cook
Director
1 film together
Notably Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic
Steward Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion
Genndy Tartakovsky
Director
1 film together
Notably Hotel Transylvania 2
J.G. Quintel
Director
1 film together
Notably Regular Show: The Movie
Tim Divar
Director
1 film together
Notably Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon
Gareth Edwards
Director
1 film together
Notably Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Sam Liu
Director
1 film together
Notably Justice League vs. Teen Titans
Stephen Sandoval
Director
1 film together
Notably Tangled: Before Ever After
Travis Knight
Director
1 film together
Notably Bumblebee
Brad Bird
Director
1 film together
Notably Incredibles 2
Bobby Miller
Director
1 film together
Notably Critters Attack!
Shinsuke Terasawa
Director
1 film together
Notably Catwoman: Hunted
Chris Bailey
Director
1 film together
Notably Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
Ryan Kramer
Director
1 film together
Notably Taz: Quest for Burger
Josh Cooley
Director
1 film together
Notably Transformers One
Jon Favreau
Director
1 film together
Notably The Mandalorian and Grogu
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Jay Oliva
Director
3 films together · 7.3 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Justice League: The Flashpoint ParadoxEthan Spaulding
Director
2 films together · 7.4 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's RevengeLauren Montgomery
Director
2 films together · 6.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Batman: Year OneKen Cunningham
Director
2 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
LEGO Marvel Avengers: Mission DemolitionMatt Peters
Director
2 films together · 6.5 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
LEGO DC Batman: Family MattersJosh Cooley
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Transformers OneTim Divar
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed DemonDean DeBlois
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Lilo & StitchBrad Bird
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Incredibles 2Gareth Edwards
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Rogue One: A Star Wars StoryJon Favreau
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Mandalorian and GroguJ.G. Quintel
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Regular Show: The MovieSam Liu
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Justice League vs. Teen TitansSteward Lee
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Star Wars Rebels: Spark of RebellionJoaquim Dos Santos
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
DC Showcase: Green ArrowVictor Cook
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Dante's Inferno: An Animated EpicFuminori Kizaki
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Afro Samurai: ResurrectionSteven E. Gordon
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Ultimate Avengers: The MovieStephen Sandoval
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Tangled: Before Ever AfterGenndy Tartakovsky
Director
1 film together · 6.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Hotel Transylvania 2Travis Knight
Director
1 film together · 6.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
BumblebeeChris Bailey
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Paws of Fury: The Legend of HankBobby Miller
Director
1 film together · 6.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Critters Attack!Ryan Kramer
Director
1 film together · 5.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Taz: Quest for BurgerShinsuke Terasawa
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Catwoman: HuntedSix degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
as Additional Voices (voice)
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Afro Samurai: Resurrection
as Man A / Assassins (voice)
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge
as Sub-Zero (voice)
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
as Additional Voices (voice)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge
as Sub-Zero (voice)
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Steve Blum has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
24 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Animation Legend
Awarded
31 catalogue titles in animation, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon
as Inferno (voice)
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Batman: Year One
as Stan (voice)
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Afro Samurai: Resurrection
as Man A / Assassins (voice)
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon
as Inferno (voice)
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Incredibles 2
as Additional Voices (voice)
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
The Mandalorian and Grogu
as Zeb Orrelios (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Batman: Year One
as Stan (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Incredibles 2
as Additional Voices (voice)
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Morgan Freeman
Built a career in the same territory: action and crime
Jamie Harris
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Have your say
Community
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Reference
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